1 . Nixon, 59 years old, was born and grew up in St. Petersburg. Each morning, he sits on a bench, watches the sunrise, and connects with _________ from all walks of life.

Eight years ago, he decided to begin each day from a bench (a kind of chair) with an impressive view of the St. Petersburg waterfront (圣彼得堡海滨), because it made him feel calm and _________ before starting his day.

About a year later, a woman stopped to say hello, and she said something that _________ Nixon’s view on his daily visit. She said, “Every morning when I see you sitting here, I know everything is going to be OK.” That’s when Nixon _________ he needed to pay attention to the people walking past.

Instead of staring straight ahead at the waterfront, Nixon started _________ at people and talking to them. And pretty soon, some early risers began _________ him on the bench, sometimes sharing their pressure and asking him for advice about personal problems.

No matter what problem a person wants to _________, Nixon lends an ear. One day, a couple came by to talk about their problems. The husband was always working. It was destroying their _________. Nixon told him, “You have to know what’s really important.” The man admitted he’d put everything he had into his _________ for many years instead of focusing on his family. “He started to cry and agreed that he needed to __________,” Nixon says. “We hugged each other and became friends after that.”

Nixon was always happy to listen, and he listens without __________ and without any kind of return expected. “You have to listen with an open heart, because you never know who’s going to walk up,” Nixon says. He is a loving and loyal __________ to many. For those who walked past the bench, they were always __________ with a smile and asked how they were doing. No topic is off limits, but some people don’t want to talk. They simply want to sit next to someone and share the __________. Once a woman stopped and just sat with Nixon for an hour; then she said thanks and walked away. She just wanted a moment of peace and to know she wasn’t __________.

And at that moment, she truly wasn’t.

2 . What is the place of art in a culture of inattention? Recent visitors to the Louvre report that tourists can now spend only a minute in front of the Mona Lisa before being asked to move on. Much of that time, for some of them, is spent taking photographs not even of the painting but of themselves with the painting in the background.

One view is that we have made tourism and gallery-going so easy that we have made it effectively impossible to appreciate what we’ve travelled to see. In this society, experience becomes goods like any other. There are queues to climb Everest as well as to see famous paintings. Thus, leisure is considered as hard labour rather than relaxation.

In the rapidly developing society, what gets lost is the quality of looking. Consider an extreme example, the late philosopher Richard Wollheim. When he visited the Louvre he could spend as much as four hours sitting before a painting. The first hour, he claimed, was necessary for incorrect impression to be removed. It was only then that the picture would begin to disclose itself. This seems unthinkable today, but it is still possible to organise. Even in the busiest museums there are many rooms and many pictures worth hours of contemplation (沉思) which the crowds largely ignore.

Marcel Proust, another lover of the Louvre, wrote: “It is only through art that we can escape from ourselves and know how another person sees a universe which is not the same as our own and whose landscapes would otherwise have remained as unknown as any there may be on the moon.” If any art remains worth seeing, it must lead us to such escapes. But a minute in front of a painting in a hurried, harried (烦扰) crowd won’t do that.

4 . There are some disabled people in the world who fight an unseen battle within themselves every day. They never cry or _______, but with a big smile on their face. I call such people _______ because they know the art of living life.

About nine years ago, I was in a car accident. The driver slept, and the car fell in the ditch. As a result, I suffered _______ injuries: the radius and ulna (挠骨和尺骨) of my right arm were _______; the lungs and livers were badly injured. But what changed me and my life _______ was the injury of spine (脊柱). Many people came to _______ me. They did try to find an ambulance but _______. So I was thrown in the back of a jeep and _______ to the nearby hospital, where I went through three major and two minor _______.

The days I spent in the hospital were ________. I was in severe pain, especially psychologically. I was ________ with wearing the hospital gown, lying in the ward and looking at the white walls. I was so ________ that I felt life was pointless and ________. But then I realized instead of crying for what I had lost, I was going to fight against my fate. Thus, there came the best ________ that I took in my entire life painting, a magic way to color my life.

That’s how this experience helped me in ________ an artist in me. So be grateful, be alive, and live every moment.

7 . He really did look like a tourist, with a camera around his neck and a bottle of sunscreen sticking out of his bag. The strong man sat at the table, drinking lemon juice and pretending to look at travel brochure(小册子). His sunglasses masked his eyes, but I knew he wasn’t looking at the brochure: he hadn’t turned a page for the last ten minutes.

As I brought him his dishes, he coughed up a “thank you” and looked at me briefly.

I tried not to stare at the tiny scar(伤疤) across his left eyebrow. I walked back inside, shaking my head. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite recognize him. Then it hit me. In the car accident one year ago, the mysterious(神秘的) stranger helped me out of my smashed car, just before it exploded. I rushed back to his table. He was gone.

I moved his plate and found his tip, along with a card: I am deeply indebted to you. The night of your car accident, I was on my way to rob a jewelry store. Saving your life brought things back in perspective(观点). I now live an honest life, thanks to you. God bless you! Mr. D.

I was stunned. The night of my car accident, I was heading for an interview in a shady dance club. Seeing human kindness through his heroic gesture turned my life around and brought faith back into my life.

I unfolded the tip he left. Among the singles was a grand with a pen mark underlining “In God We Trust”. I said a silent prayer for him and got back to work, smiling.

8 . Bullying(欺凌) can happen to anyone. A great many children around the world are bullied every year, but there are things that can be done to help.

What is bullying?

Bullying is when someone makes you feel bad or hurts you again and again. Bullying can happen at school, out of school and online. Bullying includes:

·calling people mean(恶意的)names

·laughing at people

·telling lies about people

·taking someone’s things without permission

·not letting someone play in a group

·hitting people

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying includes:

·sending bad messages online

·sharing photos online without permission

·not letting someone be part of an online group

·spreading lies online

What can you do?

If someone is not kind to you, tell an adult that you know and like. For example, talk to a parent or a teacher.

If you get bad messages, don’t reply. You should save them and give them to your teacher, your family, or the police. Ask an adult for help. Don’t share anything before you make sure it is true. That will help stop the cyberbullying.

Talk to your parent or teacher or an adult if you see bullying or if you are worried about a friend.

Say sorry if you are not kind to someone. You can write a message or talk to the person.

And always remember: think about how to be kind in the future.

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